Indian media praise ban on \\\'hate speech\\\'

Media in India welcome the election watchdog's ban on two politicians from holding public meetings over their "inflammatory comments". The Election Commission (EC) has imposed a ban on Amit Shah, a top aide of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, and Azam Khan, a senior minister in the Samajwadi party government in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. Mr Shah, who is leading the BJP's poll campaign in Uttar Pradesh, allegedly asked people at a public meeting to take "revenge" for last year's religious riots in Muzaffarnagar town in which 43 people died. Mr Shah has denied making the comments. Meanwhile, Mr Khan has been reprimanded for saying that India's victory in the 1999 Kargil conflict over Pakistan was ensured by Muslim soldiers and not Hindus, according to a news agency.